The Shackleton Project

The Shackleton Project is a series of dynamic tableaux vivants inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Co-conceived by The Phantom Limb Company and The Kronos Quartet, this narrative installation-in-motion melds theatrical performance, puppetry, photography, and film with original contemporary music and an unconventional acoustic palette to create a stunning — and unprecedented — artistic and emotional journey. PLC's The Shackleton Project aims to bring the unknown Antarctica to an audience, reinvigorating the spirit of foregoing individual glory for the sake of collective survival. Ancient and universal themes including the price of knowledge, the inevitability of adversity and struggle, and ultimately, the power of endurance and camaraderie provide emotional ballast with re-interpretations that resonate powerfully in twenty-first century hearts and minds. The Shackleton Project unites some of the finest contemporary musical, visual, and performance artists in the world in collaboration to explore the inherently bittersweet and complex nature of the Shackleton experience.

Dear Mme., 2007

Dear Mme. was created in collaboration with The Kronos Quartet as a commission to open the 25th Anniversary of The Next Wave Festival at B.A.M.

Created and directed by Grindstaff and Sanko, the piece involved a 15 foot puppet (the writer) made from recycled barn lumber that had a marionette stage behind barn doors built into the large puppet. Three scenarios played out inside the heart of the writer to a score composed by Sanko and performed live by the Kronos Quartet.

The Fortune Teller, 2006

The Fortune Teller is Phantom Limb's first theatrical endeavor created in conjunction with an astounding pool of talented artists. It was originally conceived with the support of a Henson Foundation grant, an LMCC swing space grant and was produced by the HERE Arts Center.

The Fortune Teller premiered in the fall of 2006 in NYC and has since toured to the UCLA Live Arts Festival in the fall of 2007.

Its overwhelming success led to our company's inception.